


Assessment

by theroutineriot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Watching, mild stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-12 11:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/811327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theroutineriot/pseuds/theroutineriot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can learn a lot just by watching someone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assessment

Draco likes to watch the youngest Weasley.

He can see her perfectly from his position at the Slytherin table. He took inventory of her features as she sat talking to Potter and his sidekicks.

He didn't know that she had been smacked in the face with a stick playing with Fred and George at age nine. But he knew the slight bump on her nose, the nicked scar that marred the skin.

He didn't know that the summer after her second year, she had spent ages researching spells and potions to lighten her hair, or that she had settled on lemon juice, sitting for hours in the sun, then crying when her hair became an uneven mess. But he knew the touches of gold in her flame colored hair.

He'd hadn't seen her flinch in her third year when a well-meaning friend had bought her a diary; he hadn't watched the play of dark emotions in her eyes at the sight of the smooth leather, or the flood of tears that had followed. But he knew the way her dark eyes lit up when she started to talk to her friends.

He hadn't been at the Department of Mysteries that night; he hadn't seen Ginny struggle to keep fighting even after her ankle had sounded in a telling _crack!_ But he knew the slight limp she gained when the weather was bad.

He didn't know that she'd spent years stealing broomsticks from the shed to practice while her brothers weren't looking. But he had seen Ginny soar over the stands on a broom, her bright hair making a banner behind her.

He'd never heard her be more than willing to do the dirty work for the Trio, carrying out the hard end of the plan; the way that she would lie, and hex, and steal, just to make sure they knew that she was doing her part. But he could see the potential for cruelty in her demeanor, and the way that she was too noble to give in to it.

Draco Malfoy didn't know Ginny Weasley. He'd never had a long conversation with her about her past, he'd never spoken to her about what made her start talking again after the years that she'd been quiet at school. It was assumed that it was her different feelings for Harry, but had anyone really asked?

No, he didn't know Ginny, but he knew everything about her, from the curve of her smile to the cadence of her walk. 

And there was something about the tone of her voice, the look in her eyes that made him want to reign in that forceful power, if only for a moment. He yearned to tame her, but never to break her. The fire in her warmed in ice in him in a way no one else, not even his beloved Pansy, could.

As he stared across the tables, she seemed to suddenly become conscious of his gaze, and for the first time in all the lunches and dinners and breakfasts that he had gazed at her, she turned. For a split second, warm brown slid into cool grey. A half smile played around her lips, then she turned back to Harry without even glancing his way again.


End file.
